Hyde Happinesses

 Sometimes I think life can be pretty cool. For example, last night Stetson wasn’t interested in going to sleep and I wasn’t desperate to try to fight it. So Cam brought up Graham Crackers and milk and we just chatted while Stetson chewed on a book and Oakley begged. Not sure why it was such a happy thing, but I quite enjoyed the simplistic joy of it.

Cam ran another half marathon which was super fun. It was pouring the whole time so Stetson and I hung out in the building while he ran. He said it was the priest course he’s ever run, which is good because it’s claimed to be the most beautiful half marathon in America. He ran it in just over two hours which is pretty impressive to me! His advice to anyone wanting to do a half marathon is not to do one right when your baby hits a sleep regression… pretty rough stuff 😂 

Other than that, not much has happened! Just the same old. We’ve been doing a bit more driving lately, and Stetson is not a fan. Pray for our Nauvoo trip 😅 

Although he doesn’t like taking naps or sleeping at night, he can fall asleep quite easily in his carrier. 

Strawberry picking! So fun! This farm has acres and acres of fruit trees and bushes, and they sell them during their seasons. Blackberries will be coming up soon, as well as peaches. 

Run the Bluegrass

It’s the little things

Oakleys record stick

Hyde Happinesses

 Okay funny story yall. We were just sitting down, enjoying the weather in the backyard a couple days ago. The birds were singing, someone was mowing their lawn. I saw a bird flying overhead. I thought to myself, that bird is going to go to the bathroom on us. And what happened? The bird literally pooped on Stetsons leg! He was just flying, right above us, and he went! It was absolutely the most bizarre thing ever. I died laughing while Cam (who was holding Stetson) begged me to go get some paper towels (thanks to Jack for the birthday present). It was so odd. 

Anyway, we’ve just been enjoying life! Stetson is now four months old! Pretty crazy! We’re getting very excited for everyone to meet him. 

First baseball game! Cam was in heaven the whole time. He told me he’s been dreaming of this day for a long long time.

He loves not having a shirt on

He found his toes

😍❤️😍❤️😍❤️😍

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there :) I sure love you all and have mad respect for you guys and how put together you always seem to be😅 thanks for teaching me all the tricks and blazing the trail.

Smithfield Scoop

We have been hunkered down and not posting for a few weeks (months!) for various reasons. But the sun came out for a while, and so did we! Having company and traveling a bit was nice for a month or so. Dad has spent lots of delightful days, with camera in hand, taking his "shot of the day" - plus hundreds of other great photos! He spends a lot of time sorting through the pictures and choosing one shot for the day and filing away the other "keepers." It's been a delightful project. Mostly, he is enamored with the variety of absolutely stunning birds that keep appearing at the feeder that Dad refills almost daily for them. 

One day, when the garage door was open, a hummingbird came buzzing into the garage looking for food. Dad thinks the bird saw the feeder and came to get a drink - but it was empty. But it is now full and hanging in the normal spot, and the bird has visited daily since.

The garden is up and running - peas have popped through, garlic is tall and green, onions are still sleeping, but we assume they will begin creeping and then start leaping before long. Potatoes and carrots are also planted and some are poking their heads out of the soil. We still don't dare do anything like tomatoes or vines yet. That must wait for another few weeks, to be on the safe side.

We had a horrific wind last night! We woke up to find someone's mattress or bench pad on our patio.  None of our next door neighbors have claimed it, so we don't know where it blew in from. The bird feeder was on the ground in the bushes. All of the neighbors' garbage cans were blown over, fences are down, shingles off some roofs, etc. The trees all seem to be intact, but it was quite a wind storm. We've had rain this afternoon. Variety in our weather is to be expected (and appreciated?), I guess.

It's been fun to see family a bit recently. We loved sharing the Passover Seder with the Mannings. It's very meaningful and fun to hear the focus and meaning of each dish served. It was fun to see Joe and Lori's family that weekend, as well. There are always great things happening at that house! Having the Flakes visit is always delightful - though it terrified us to think of Jenn driving all that way and back by herself with three young uns!! But they made it to and from, which was a blessing.

We are getting very excited to go to Nauvoo and be there with our whole family! Thanks to all of you for making the effort to travel so far and for your preparations to have a great time there! We are praying that it will be as wonderful as we envision it!

Benson - even high waters and flooding can be lovely! 

Bullock's Oriole - stunning!

Lazuli Bunting - beautiful blue!

We aren't sure if this is the male or female squirrel, but 

it is one of two that come to pick up seeds under the bird

feeder while the birds are eating. They can be seen climbing

the tree to try and get to the feeder, as well. We imagine they

are feeding a little family - or a soon to be family.

 

Flake Fun

Much of this week was spent out doors. The garden is nearly planted and the carrots are sprouting (thanks to great advice from Aunt Elise)!  And the gladiolus are up!!!! Five of our six lilac bushes are looking good. The sixth may have been too big to transplant but I haven't given up yet. 

This week will be more of the same but with a funeral on Friday.  Scott's uncle died a few days ago.  We are still talking over going to Mesa for the funeral or just going to the graveside service in Snowflake. 

Riding Dobber to the range to brand cows

Riding Big Unicorn with Little Unicorn trotting along beside her

The kids are taking after Peter and love to play with the chickens

We bought the kids backpacks for Nauvoo. They skip around the house singing, "I'm going to Nauvoo..." and they are quite annoyed that I won't let them pack for the trip yet. 

On a sad/funny note, James has had diarrhea recently. The other day he was in the kitchen when he stopped, looked at me wide eyed and yelled, "Mom! Potty! Run!" We made it just in time.

Flake Fun

 Well, we survived a week of sickness and hopefully we will get some vitamin D this week and get back to 100%. You are right Emma. Doing the Mom thing while you are sick is exhausting. 

We got started on planting our garden.  We put in potatoes, corn, carrots and onions.  I am hoping to get some more planted this qeek.  The gladiolus are on the rise!!!!

Like you heard during Family Matters, we had the ward Fathers and sons overnight activity.  The boys went but didn't spend the night due to chilly temps.  When Robin first heard of what would be going on, she looked at me and stated,  "we should have a lonely party for all the girls who will be lonely during Fathers and sons." So we started planning.  She was really excited and had the whole thing planned (making pizza and having an ice cream bar). As soon as the boys left she started to get ready.  A necklace, bracelet,  earrings and some jewelry for mom too!  She set the table with bright pink plates and napkins, prepared the bowls of ice cream toppings and kept asking how long until the girls came.

Long story short our evening ended with the question, "mom, why did only one person come to my party?" It was heartbreaking.  But I am determined to give it another go in a month or two and give her a party that is a smashing success.  

I'm looking forward to a new week with renewed energy and optimism.   Hope that you all have a great week.

Hart Happenings

Chocolate puzzles!

Brothers outing to the ramen shop. Jack’s favorite!

Peter loves his new haircut

Potting up some serviceberry starts

Co-op raising day!

Another fan of ramen

Peter’s girls are also so glad for the nicer weather 

When the boys do my hair!

Solidarity!

 Hello Spring! 

I don’t think I have ever been more grateful for a turn in the weather and a change of season. All seems to be so much better with the warmer temperatures and sunshine. 

I have been endlessly entertained by the boys antics now that the sun is out. Ian just wants to follow the sun around and soak it in, while Peter and Jack immediately pulled out the bikes and have been having laser gun wars while riding the bikes all around the yard. 

With the good weather come the soccer and spikeball tournaments which take up most of our evenings. 

Ian is in the final weeks of rehearsing for Joseph. They had to push back opening night because they are still trying to finish the theater and the carpet they ordered was detained in customs. 

While Alex and Jack went to L.A. this weekend for spikeball Peter and I jetted down to Utah and snuck in a visit with the Manning’s (Mom and Dad were there too as an added bonus) and the Joe Bellistons. It was so good to see everyone! There was some pretty torrential rain in places on the drive to and from which is always exciting. I sure love the rain!

We had our final member meeting of the year which officially ends our homeschool co-op and at the meeting we voted in new board members which means that my term on the board has come to an end. It has been such a rewarding experience to serve with such dedicated women. I learned and grew a lot and made some really dear friends in the process. 

Pretty much same old same old at the Hart house. But I will take it! 

Hyde Happinesses

 Hello all. This week was more like Hyde’s Hysterics, but we had to keep up the trend and couldn’t change the title. We’ve all been sick this week, which is always a little tricky with a baby as I’m learning, but I think Stetson is also going through a sleep regression and is probably teething as well. It’s been a tough week but we’ve still had fun here and there :) we enjoyed some beautiful summer days and went on walks and dug around in the garden a bit. We have a really big pond up the street and we usually just walk around it for our walks. On one of the banks, we counted over 30 turtles just hanging out! And that’s just one of the banks! There are plenty of other turtles on other banks. I think Chet needs to come visit us, Yanny. Also on our strolls we’ve welcomed a new goose family! They have six little goslings and they are just as cute as can be! It’s very fun to go around and watch Spring do its thing. It’s supposed to thunderstorm all week this week, which is also actually very fun for us. We both really like the rain :) 

Anyway, not much to report here. It’s been a long week but not a lot has happened. We love you and are getting very excited for our family gathering coming up! 

Nose bubbles

He looks so big in his jeans and baseball onesie!

He loves this thing

The little robins are getting a little cuter! We haven’t gone up to see them for awhile, so if we go up a little later today I’ll get another picture.